Hotel Proposed For St. Stephen Waterfront

Local St. Stephen businessperson, Tom McFarlane, announced Thursday that his company, Spur Line Properties Inc., intends to apply for affiliation with the Best Western hotel chain. “The area has needed a project, not only like this, but the civic centre for years,” McFarlane stated at the official announcement of the project.

This hotel will be in close-proximity to the planned Garcelon Civic Centre and will depend largely on the Civic Centre for its business.

The new hotel will hope to capitalize on an increased need for overnight lodging as a result of events held at the Civic Centre. These events will include, but are not limited to, sports tournaments and various business conferences. It is expected that people will travel from neighboring communities to make use of the new facility and in many cases will need affordable overnight lodging.

This is where the Best Western will shine. Although there are currently motels in the St Stephen area the Best Western is hoping to offer a more traditional hotel experience as opposed to what a smaller motel can offer. The proposed plan for the Best Western Plus will include 100,000 square-feet of floor space, condos on the fifth floor that will be available for private purchase, 90+ rooms, a high-end seafood-steakhouse restaurant as well as a pool and exercise room.

Although the Best Western will have no official connection to the Civic Center, “There is no way on earth that I would contemplate building this project if it wasn’t for the Garcelon Civic Centre,” stated McFarlane. “The success of each of these ventures depends on the other.”

McFarlane hopes to have the hotel built during the same timeframe as the Garcelon Civic Centre, giving McFarlane nine months to bring the project to fruition. “It’s an aggressive build of the hotel,” admitted McFarlane. “The schedule is getting tight but we’re working on it.”